Past Memories
by MsAir
Summary: Ino hasn't return from a mission. Gaara doesn't know what to do without her around. A GaaIno one-shot.


Past Memories

Yeah, I don't own Naruto…

Gaara was sitting in his room alone. He didn't move or say anything. He just stared at the window. Nothing bothered him except for one thing…

Ino.

She hasn't come back from her mission. She was 2 days late than the estimated time supposed to finish the mission.

"You're stubborn, Ino. Why did you ask for that mission anyways…"

Ino wasn't a Konoha shinobi anymore. A year after she and Gaara started dating, she moved to Suna. Gaara, as the Kazekage, certainly didn't appoint her as a Shinobi of Suna. Why should he risk it? She was his girlfriend. What was he going to do if she got injured? So for safety, he didn't make her a shinobi.

Everything was fine for the first few weeks she stayed in Suna. Until she got bored and depressed. She came to him asking for a mission. Of course, he didn't give her any.

Ino got mad at him and called him selfish. Yeah, they got into a fight after that and she didn't talk to him for days.

Gaara obviously couldn't take it when she ignored him like that. He couldn't focus on his work. He couldn't even eat since Ino hasn't cook for him since the fight. He finally gave up and apologized to Ino. She apologized for getting mad at him too.

But she still wanted a mission. Gaara couldn't really say 'no'. He could, but he didn't want them to fight again.

He gave her a simple C-rank mission even though he was still worried. She thought a C-rank mission was too low for a jounin like her, but she accepted it anyways since she knew Gaara wouldn't give her any higher rank.

Now, Gaara regretted assigning her on that mission. He'll make sure that that's the first and last mission she'll ever get. No matter how long she sulked or cried, he wasn't gonna give her any missions anymore. Even though seeing her sulking and crying may be hard.

Time passed real slowly without her around… and it was killing him.

He got up from the bed and rushed to the entrance of Suna. He saw two guards guarding at the gate. Ichigo, one of the guards looked surprised seeing Gaara. The two guards bowed quickly seeing their Kazekage.

"Any sign of Ino?" He asked, his face showed no emotions but the guards could see right through. He was worried, and missed her of course. The guards shook their heads slowly. Gaara sighed and looked to the ground.

The guards, Ichigo and Eiko, felt sorry for him. They knew how much their Kazekage cared for Ino. Everyone knew. Lots of things in Suna changed since he met her. HE changed, in a good way.

"I'm sure she'll return as soon as possible, Kazekage-sama." Ichigo said. "She was one of Konoha's top ANBU and also the apprentice of the Hokage." Eiko continued. "We're sure she'll be fine." They tried to comfort Gaara.

"If she comes back, make sure I'm the first to know…" He said to them.

"Hai."

Gaara decided to go to his office. He hasn't been there since yesterday when he went out of control just to find Ino. Temari and Kankuro had to tie him up to make sure he doesn't go wild again.

In his office, he sat by the window and looked up at the sky. He hoped Ino was okay. When she came back, she was gonna get a full lecture session.

(Flashback)

_Gaara was sitting in his office. He was doing some paperwork. It was usual to him. Sitting in his quiet office while signing some boring papers. Everything was as it was, normal. Until-_

"_GAARA !"_

_A high pitched voice greeted him. His eyes twitched from the loudness. He looked at his door to see her, Ino Yamanaka. Gaara glared at her._

"_What?" She asked innocently. "I'm doing my paperwork." Gaara answered flatly. Ino pouted. "Aww, come on… Is that the way to treat a friend who just arrived in Suna?" Gaara just stared at her emotionlessly._

"_You could have knocked" He didn't really like anyone disturbing him while he was working._

_Ino just shrugged. "Didn't feel like it…" Gaara's eyes returned to what he was doing earlier. Silence filled the room. Ino sucked on her teeth. She hated silence; it has always been her biggest enemy. Except for sad and tired times, it was her best friend. _

_Ino broke the silence that was starting to annoy her. "I'm bored." She said while taking a seat in front of him. Gaara ignored her. She sighed loudly and frowned. "You're really boring."_

_Gaara looked at her before going back to his papers. Ino frowned. "Don't you get tired having your face in those papers every day?" Ino asked boringly. "No." was Gaara's short answer._

_Ino put her hand under her chin. "Do you like silence?" Ino asked randomly. "Yes." Came another of his annoying short replies. Ino's eyes twitched. "You're boring you know that." She blurted out. "Hn…" _

_That's it. She could die of boredom staying here. She sighed while standing up. She checked her watch. It was almost 2. "Hey, wanna get lunch?" She asked looking at him, just hoping for him to say yes. He just shook his head._

_She pouted. He was damn boring. Why did she even come here? "Ugh... Fine." She headed to the door. "You know… You should get a life." She muttered but Gaara could still hear her. He acted as if he didn't hear her. But truthfully, he was kinda surprised. Shocked that SHE out of everyone, said THAT to him. _

_He continued to sign papers and stuff, ignoring Ino's words. After 10 minutes of pure silence, his door opened again revealing the annoying loud blonde. She looked at him miserably._

"_Didn't stand to be without me?" Gaara smirked. Ino blushed slightly. "N-no…" She said quietly. "I don't know where to go… And I don't know my way around here… And I can't find Shikamaru, Temari or Kankuro ANYWHERE !" Ino yelled frustrated._

_Gaara raised an eyebrow. "You've been here lots of times and you still don't know your way?" It sounded more like statement then a question. She pouted again. "I'm always around Temari, Shika or Kankuro." She answered._

"_And why aren't you with them today?" He asked again. Ino sighed loudly. "Because I chose to come and see you !" She shouted crossing her arms. Gaara looked at her. She gave a questionable look before realizing what she just said._

_Her face began to flush red. "I-I didn't m-m-mean it like t-that !" She stuttered, her hand's in front of her. Gaara smirked causing Ino's blush to darken. 'Curse Gaara with his cute stupid smirk.' Ino swore in her mind. She hated this moment. _

_Gaara got up and walked towards Ino. She looked at him nervously when he was standing in front of her. He was taller than her, she only reached his chest. He got closer to her making her blush. She could feel his breath on her cheek. _

_Suddenly, he chuckled lightly and his chuckles turned into laughter. Ino looked at him, confused. "You're impossible, Ino." He said as his laughter died down. Ino tried to project what just happened and frowned when she got it. _

_That only made Gaara chuckle more. Ino was practically annoyed; she mumbled something under her breath. Gaara smiled at her. _

_Ino looked weirdly at him. "What?" He raised a brow. "You smiled?" She stated more rather than a question. "You don't usually _smile._" She said. Gaara kept quiet for a while before continuing. _

"_I only do to people who mean to me…" He said before walking out the door. Ino looked confused. "Wha-"_

"_Gaara !" She yelled realizing he left her. Gaara winced at the loudness of the blonde. He turned to see Ino catching up to him. "What (pant) did you (pant) mean?" She asked out of breath. He looked at her. "Nothing you should be concerned of."_

_Ino pouted. "Gaara~!" She whined. Gaara chuckled lightly. Almost EVERYONE turned in their direction, shocked._

"_So, where do you wanna go?" Gaara asked. Ino's pout instantly changed into a happy smile. "Anywhere ! As long as it's not boring… as I said, I don't know this place much." She said smiling at him. He smiled back._

_They walked out of the Kazekage tower unaware of all the shocked eyes trailing them._

(End Flashback)

Gaara smiled remembering that day. That was the first day he had ever gotten close to her. Not to mention all the rumors that spread after that day. "Where are you, Ino…?" He muttered.

His eyes making its way to the stack of papers on his desk. He groaned seeing how much they were, and not forgetting to mention how messy his office was. If Ino was here, she would've scolded him for not keeping his office clean.

Well what to say? He was lost without her, suffering. He sighed at looked at the clock on his desk. It was 3 in the morning.

He leaned against his chair before falling into a deep slumber.

(DREAM)

_It was a bright, beautiful day in Konoha. Everyone were wearing smiles on their face… well, most of them. Ino was tending to some flowers in her family's shop when the door opened._

"_Hello, and welcome to-" Ino cut herself off when she saw Gaara standing at the door, closing it. _

"_Ino." _

"_Sabaku." Ino replied in a cold voice._

_She hurried behind her cashier to keep herself away from the red head. Gaara frowned at the way she greeted him. Usually when he visited her, she would always welcome him with happy and warm smiles. But it was different this time. He was also noticing something wrong with her these few days._

"_You're avoiding me." He said plainly. She exhaled through her mouth. "If that's the reason you're here, you should rather leave." She said not looking at him._

_Gaara was confused. Everything was fine last week. So why did her attitude towards him change? "Why?" he asked._

_Ino just mumbled some words. Gaara didn't hear what exactly she was saying. He walked to the cashier and stand in front of her. "You used to smile when I was around." He said looking at her. Ino could feel his stare. She just didn't want to face him._

"_I _used_ to." Gaara didn't know but he didn't like it when she was avoiding him. "Ino." He said her name. She just ignored it._

"_Ino." He said it again. _

"_Ino." She sighed and gritted her teeth._

"_Ino-"_

"_What ? Don't you see I _don't_ want to talk to you !" She raised her voice and glared at him while standing up. He was surprised to say the least. He didn't expect that from HER. She shook her head slowly and sat back down._

"_Sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you like that." She said slowly but Gaara heard it anyways. "Something's wrong. What is it ?" She shook her head again. "No." she cleared her throat. "Nothing's wrong."_

_Gaara got annoyed at her and slammed his hand on the table. "Look, Ino. You've been acting different these few days. I know something's wrong and you're going to tell me what !" He said sternly. Ino looked at him, a bit taken a back._

"_I-I don't know what you're talking about…" She said looking down again. Gaara rolled his eyes and glared at her. "You know damn exactly what I'm talking about !" He was getting impatient._

_Ino swallowed hard. He's never raised his voice at her. Never. She started to feel burning in her eyes. 'Shit.' She mentally cursed. Gaara was still glaring at her. She held the tears back. 'Why the hell am I like this?' Ino thought._

_A tear rolled down her cheek unconsciously. Gaara's eyes widened. He had never seen Ino cry. Heard, yes. Seen, no. _

_His eyes soften. "I-Ino…" he managed. "I'm sorry… for getting mad all of a sudden." He said looking away. Ino just nodded. He went behind the cashier and stood beside Ino. He bend down to her since he was taller compared to a sitting Ino. _

"_Why are you crying?" he asked. "I-I'm n-not…" She stuttered out, blushing at how close they were. He wiped the lonely tear on her cheek. "O-oh…" She quickly wiped the remaining of it. "Care to tell me?" Gaara asked, his voice was softer than before._

_Ino thought for a minute. "I… I, uhh…" She trailed off. "I don't think you'd want to hear it." She said. _

"_I'm not leaving until you tell me." He said stubbornly. Ino sighed. She looked at his face. 'Should I tell him? Ugh… He's not leaving until I tell him so, what _am _I going to tell him? I can't just tell him that I have feelings for him! He'll think I'm stupid! He's the Kazekage for God's sake ! Ugh… what the hell am I gonna do?'_

"_Ino?" He snapped her out of her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, uh … Yeah." She said fiddling with her fingers. "I-I really think t-t-that I shouldn't tell y-you…" She tried convincing him again. Gaara frowned. _

"_I don't care, I want to know." He stated. Ino found herself saying "Okay, but after I tell you… promise me nothing will change?" She asked hopefully. Gaara nodded. "Okay…" Ino took a deep breath._

"_A-all the time we spent together… I-it was nice, it sorta m-made me happy i-in a way. And I, I… d-d-don't know if you feel that to b-but… Umm, from the first t-time we met… Uh…" Ino trailed off not knowing what to say._

"_What are you trying to say?" Gaara raised a brow. "W-What I'm trying to say i-is that i-i… I love you !" Ino said closing her eyes. She opened it after a brief of silence._

_Gaara looked at her dumbfounded. 'Great Ino, just great… Now he's gonna think you're a maniac. Why did I even say that ! It wasn't like he was gonna like me back or something… He's the Kazekage ! Hundreds of other girls deserved him more than you; you're just a random kunoichi … What the hell were you thinking? You're so stupid Ino… Stupid. Stupid… STUPID !'_

_She didn't want to look at him. "You… love… me?" He asked slowly. "Y-yeah-"_

_She was cut off by Gaara's lips on hers. She didn't expect that, at all. Gaara broke the kiss and smiled at her. "And I thought I was the only one." Ino looked at him for a split second before smiling and hugging him._

"_I love you too, Ino." He said as he wrapped an arm around her. She broke the hug and claimed his lips with hers. Gaara kissed her back with passion. Ino broke the kiss and saw a disappointed face on Gaara. She giggled. He was so cute._

_Gaara was going to say something when they heard a voice "Ehem…" They looked to see a grinning Naruto. Ino's face flushed red. "H-how long have you been there ?" She asked._

"_Longer than you think…" He replied, still grinning at them. Ino looked at him nervously. "Naruto, get outta here." Gaara said blankly. Naruto laughed his evil laugh which wasn't really _that_ evil or scary to anyone. _

"_Yeah, sure, I'll give you guys some… _alone_ time…"He said slyly before rushing out. Ino knew what was going on in his mind and sigh. Gaara turned to her. "Don't worry… He's Naruto, no one will believe him." He said, placing a hand on her cheek._

_Ino didn't look convinced. "How do you know?" _

"_He's NARUTO." Gaara grinned and Ino giggled._

(End Dream)

Gaara woke up when he heard a loud knock on his door. "Gaara !" He heard a girl's voice call. "Gaara, are you in there ?" He heard another voice, a boy. He grunted and got up.

"What?" Gaara opened the door, his eyelids only half opened. He saw Temari smiling nervously with a bored Kankuro. "Eheh… We thought… you… disappeared." She said giving a sheepish smile. Gaara looked at Kankuro and he just shrugged.

"Well…" Temari said looking at Kankuro and then back to Gaara. "You'd better get ready." Kankuro said.

"Why?"

"We got… um, a note telling you to… uh… Meet ! Yeah, meet her, HIM! Him ! At the-"

"Just get ready and be at the park in 10 minutes." Kankuro said glaring at his sister. She was a really bad liar. A terrible liar !

"Fine." Gaara said closing his door. 'Who wants to see me?' He asked himself. He sighed and remembered that he was only wearing a black shirt with brown pants. He sighed again and speeded home.

He quickly changed into his Kazekage outfit and walked to the park. The civilians bowed and gave him a smile whenever he passed them. He just gave a nod back.

When he got to the park, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was normal, kids running around and playing together while some older people chatted. He walked over to a tree and leaned against it.

He saw two teenagers, a girl and a boy about 3 years younger than him. They were sitting beside each other on a bench. The boy told her to wait while he went somewhere. When he got back, he brought her ice-cream. She smiled and hugged him before licking the now melting ice-cream.

The thought of Ino suddenly came to his mind. She loved ice-cream. He sighed miserably, he missed her.

"Missing someone?" His eyes widened. He recognized the voice.

It was Ino's.

He turned his head left and right, no one. He looked up but still found no one. 'Great Gaara… Now you're crazy…' He mentally said.

"You're not crazy, just a bit psychotic." The voice said again.

He looked around. He tried detecting the blonde's chakra but failed. "Who's there?" He asked frowning. Nobody answered.

'What am I doing? She's not back yet… if she was Ichigo and Eiko would have told me.'

"They would,_ if _they knew."

The voice he used to hear always said. "That's it…" He muttered and let his sand out. His sand went in search for her all over the park, scaring some kids and people.

"Really? Letting your _sand_ search for someone? How pathetic…" He knew it was her, Ino. It has to be her. His sand returned after a while when they didn't succeed in finding her. He sighed.

"I was an ANBU in Konoha, Gaara. You're sand is useless in finding me."

Now, he was 100% sure it was her. He looked around in search for her. "Ino… Quit playing. I know you're somewhere here."

He heard a small chuckle but didn't quite hear where it was from.

"What's wrong, _Kazekage-sama._ Can't seem to find me?" She teased.

He scowled. He was missing her like crazy and when she returned she decided to play hide and seek? Is she serious? "Come on, Ino. You know I missed you…" He said looking around.

People were starting to think something's wrong with him. 'Now even the civilians think I'm out of my mind.'

She giggled. "I'm just 3 days late. And don't worry; I _still_ love you even if people think you _are _crazy."

The side of his mouth curved into a smile. "I know, Ino. Just come out so I can see you." He said.

Then, he heard someone say in his ear. "I'm right behind you, idiot." He turned around to see her smiling at him. He smiled before hugging her tightly. Ino laughed while hugging him back too.

He broke the hugged and kissed her. She gave in to the kiss and wrapped her hands around his neck. She chuckled while kissing him. He pulled back and looked at her in the eyes with a serious face.

She tilted her head. "What?"

"_You_ are NOT going on _any_ mission again. _Ever_." He said sternly. She only gave a pout. "You can't expect me to stay _here_ for the rest of my life." She said upset. "It's so bored." She retorted.

"I don't care. You are _not_ leaving for mission ever again." He said smirking. She frowned at him. "You're mean." She said quietly. He chuckled and kissed her again.

It was a deep, passionate kiss. It wasn't long until Kankuro disturbed them. "Go get a room!" He shouted. Ino blushed while Gaara smirked at him. "Maybe we will…" He said to him enough for almost everyone in the park to hear, causing Ino to blush darker.

"Gaara !" She pulled on his sleeve. He chuckled and caressed her cheek before giving her a peck on the lips. "I love you, Ino." She smiled. "I love you too, _Kazekage-sama_." She said then giggled.

So… how was it? I just got my laptop back and I thought of writing this. Tell me what you think ! R&R ! : D


End file.
